Downingtown custodian pleads guilty to disorderly conduct

WEST CHESTER — Art Campbell, the head principal at the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Academy in Downingtown, has played many roles in his career in education: classroom teacher, office administrator, math and science supervisor, assistant principal.

In November, he added another: amateur sleuth.

After getting reports that a custodian at STEM had been acting suspiciously in a student locker room, Campbell staged a mini-surveillance stakeout in the room and caught the man in the act of rifling through students’ backpacks.

Campbell later learned through an informal inquiry that at least six students’ wallets and purses were taken from their backpacks when they were left unattended in the locker room. The thefts ranged from as a U.S. Passport card to as much as $300 in cash. One student reported that his wallet had been taken twice in the space of a few weeks form the locker room.

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On July 14, Mark J. Formica, the custodian Campbell identified as the likely culprit, pleaded guilty to a summary charge of disorderly conduct. He was ordered to pay $484 in restitution to four students at the STEM Academy who reported thefts. As part of his plea, he was not subject to any further punishment.

Deputy District Attorney Thomas Ost-Prisco, who formerly served as a school board member in the Downingtown Area School District, said after the plea that he had offered a summary disposition to Formica because the defendant had agreed to pay restitution to the students up front. He said the evidence in the case showed only that Formica had attempted to take things from students’ backpacks, but by paying the restitution he essentially took responsibility for the earlier thefts.

Ost-Prisco also noted that Formica, 50, of Downingtown, had been fired from the custodian’s job he held in the district for more than 20 years.

According to a criminal complaint filed by Downingtown Officer Scott Neuhaus, the case against Formica began on Nov. 14, when a STEM student who was doing homework in the locker room spotted Formica searching through a classmate’s backpack. The student, who was not identified in the complaint, shouted ‘Hey!” at Formica, to let him know he had seen him. Startled, Formica took his hand out of the pack, nodded and left the room.

A week later, a physical education teacher at the school, Erik Pederson, notified Campbell that Formica was outside the boys’ locker room, repeatedly vacuuming a rug there “as though he was waiting for Mr. Pederson to leave,” Neuhaus wrote in his complaint. He said that Formica had already completed a cleaning of the locker room and had asked Pederson when he might be leaving.

Campbell came from his office and sneaked into the locker room from an outside door, taking a position in the rear of the room. Pederson left the room, passing Formica as he did, the complaint stated. When he looked over his shoulder, Pederson said, he could see the janitor going back into the room.

Campbell told the officer that he watched as Formica went directly to two backpacks and a jacket that had been left in the room by students. He searched through the jacket, and then unzipped one of the backpacks. As he did, Campbell announced himself and asked Formica what he was doing. The custodian said he was “just cleaning up,” even though he had been in the room earlier and had no cleaning supplies with him when confronted by Campbell.

Campbell then sent a message to students at the school asking if they had noticed items missing from the locker room. Six answered that they had money taken from them, including the student who lost one wallet with $300 and then a second one with $30 a few days later.

Formica was suspended pending an investigation after Campbell spotted him, but he never attended any disciplinary hearings. He was charged with theft on Dec. 19.

Formica was represented at the proceeding in front of Common Pleas Judge Patrick Carmody by attorney John Pavloff of Kennett Square.